Global educational policies and research agendas in basic education: a bibliometric analysis of scientific production guided by public policies

Abstract

In recent decades, basic education has become a central priority within global public policy frameworks, particularly in relation to quality, equity, educational reform, governance, and sustainable development. This study analyzes how global educational policies have shaped scientific research agendas in basic education. A bibliometric analysis was conducted using 370 peer-reviewed articles indexed in Scopus and Web of Science between 2000 and 2025. Bibliometric procedures were implemented using R and VOSviewer to examine scientific production trends, citation patterns, leading publication sources, country collaboration networks, and keyword co-occurrence structures. An interpretive analysis was also applied to identify the main research agendas associated with global educational policy frameworks. The findings show a marked increase in scientific production after 2015, with a strong concentration of publications between 2021 and 2025. The United States and the United Kingdom emerged as the leading contributors and central actors in international collaboration networks. The intellectual structure of the field is organized around key themes such as education policy, educational reform, curriculum, governance, accountability, equity, educational development, and Sustainable Development Goal 4. The results also reveal that research on basic education is strongly influenced by international policy priorities and global education governance frameworks. The study demonstrates that scientific production on basic education is not only expanding but is also closely aligned with global public policy agendas. The dominance of Global North countries in publication and collaboration networks highlights persistent geographical asymmetries in knowledge production. These findings underscore the need to promote greater geographical diversity, contextual sensitivity, and inclusion of Global South perspectives in future research on educational policy and basic education.